The global ornamental fish trade involves billions of animals annually, with high mortality rates and welfare problems at every stage from collection to retail display.
Ornamental fish experience welfare harms throughout the supply chain: capture trauma, cyanide exposure, decompression during transport, overcrowding in holding facilities, and finally placement in aquariums that may not meet their complex environmental needs. Fish have demonstrated preferences, learning capabilities, and nociceptive systems. The scale of mortality in the marine fish trade — billions of deaths annually — represents an enormous and largely invisible welfare problem.